I've always loved the little silver votive offerings left at churches through the ages.
The thing I 'm most thankful for is the gift of my hands ... I can hold my children, create art, touch the world, I could even "see" with them if I were to loose the use of my eyes ...

but most of all I have always felt a guiding hand in my life. I've been protected from a harsher reality from things that would have made my life far more difficult than I could truly imagine. I am thankful for that hand ....

3.07.2012

If you don't know by now I love making life adventurous! I also love challenges!

When we started talking about attending the Tucson Gem Show last year I knew that it would be amazing. I also realized that as much fun as it would be to make it a business retreat for my husband and I, we knew it would be a travesty for our boys to miss out on such an experience.

Entering into planning mode, I thought about the joys of flying:

super fast travel time;

no driving at night;

not having to torture the baby with 40+hrs of car seat imprisonment.

Then I thought about the joys of flying:

TSA groping/radiation therapy;

the cost of actually buying tickets and the fees for luggage;

scream inducing eardrum pain;

nausea from the intense pain;

tiny bathroom diaper changes;

explaining that nursing my child during take off will actually stop the crying;

explaining that we don't need to pacify the child with sweets if they would let me nurse my child;

explaining that nursing my child (under a blanket) is not indecent and mankind would not exist if it weren't for BREAST FEEDING!;

not being able to sit together (three of us would be scattered through out the plane);

a crying baby in a plane (sheesh people, try taking a train in India now that's actually stressful!);

running with the 4 boys and car seats, luggage to try and make the connecting flight

ok so you see with an 11, 8, 4 and 1 year old there really was no hope for anything other than driving unless we could have fixed our Lego time space continuum folder ... worm hole generator ...

so we were

d r i v i n g

4500 miles round trip (a little more actually with all the side trips)

now here's the kicker I love road trips all the gory mess and chaos of the trip and memories that will color everyone's lives forever!

I grew up living in the south (Texas and Florida) and my mother's family in Iowa my dad's in Mississippi. We drove for holidays, reunions, funerals, etc so many of my memories were of car trips that I can't help but be in love with them!

I prepared by packing 19 outfits for each of us - we needed both cold and warm - since Tucson was only in the 50's-70's and we are cold if it hits below 80 at night.

I packed baby through adult friendly foods the main bulk of which was ...

10 bags of Pepperridge Farms Goldfish crackers

our local grocery had them on sale (buy one get one free)

We had a true adventure which I will tell you more about tomorrow ....

11.25.2011

So it's been a year and a few months since I started buying gems from our friends family in Kenya.

We have had a few adventures met a whole bunch of amazing people and learned a lot about things I didn't expect to. Like how elephants interact with the miners (i.e. harassing them for their water.)

taken by a miner as he runs away, the mother was not happy

The same mother and calf from a distance

The herd that lives in the area of the mines

We also have established friendships with local and global jewelers. I'm looking forward to working with Peter Baeza, at Jewels by Peter B. in Winter Park, FL this holiday season. We will be offering our gemstones in his shop. Stop by and see us if you're in town.